Ihoinjani



Patented Aug. 15

R. O. SIBLEY.

LIFE PRESERVER BATHING SUIT.

(No Model.)

SIBLEY,

awri +0- 'ATTYS.

On 0 T N E V N R. C. BY

N. PETERS. FhnkrLilhugr-whlr. wumn wm llc.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES RICHARD O. SIBLEY,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LlFE-PRESERVER BATHlNG-SUIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,703, dated August 15, 1882.

Application filed July 8. 18 81. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I RICHARD O. SIBLEY, of New York,in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bathing-Suits and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention consists in providing an ordinary bathing-dress with such a life-saving appliance that while itin no wise incumbers the dress or the wearer, adding nothing appreciable in weight or bulk to it, it is at hand in any emergency, ready for use at the will of the wearer, whether to rest and relieve the bather in moments of fatigue or to rescue him in moments of peril.

While the various life-preservers now in use are in other ways good and useful, let us say all such and other bathing-dress life-saving appliances are so cumbersome and unwieldy that they are practically useless, for the reason that bathers are unwilling to encumber themselves with cork-jackets or any other weighty or bulky contrivances, even though they may be satisfed of their life-saving properties.

A bathing-dress with my appliance is the same, as far as weight or bulk is concerned,

as a bathing-dress without it, yet the appliance is ever at hand at moments of need.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents my improved bathing-suit as worn by a person in the water, and Fig. 2 the suit alone.

To enable others skilled in the art to make my improved bathing-suit, I will now proceed to describe fully the construction of the same.

A represents a bathing-suitof the usual wellknown or any other proper construction.

13 represents a belt, which may be composed of a suitable length of air-proof cloth, folded 1 upon itself laterally and cemented at its edges, which is placed in position aboutthe garment around the body under the arms, as shown, and is strongly secured thereto in any proper manner.

12 represents a small tube, properly connected to the sleeve B, one portion, 1), of which extends up the front of the garment, as shown, and is firmly secured thereto in any proper manner. Another portion, W, is left pendent and unattached to the garment, and is provided at its end with a mouth-piece, b as shown.

The operation is substantially as follows: The bathing-suit is worn in the usual manner without regard to the life-saving appliances until occasion shall arise for the use of the same. The wearer then lying on his back in the water inflates the fiat belt by means of the tube and is at once buoyed in the water beyond the possibility of sinking.

The great advantage arising from this special construction is that this bathing-suit may be used ordinarily like any other suit without the slightest discomfort resulting from its attachments, whileit possesses thelife-sa-vin g capacity for employment when occasion shall require.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with a bathing-suit, the flat belt B, having the tube 1), the belt being attached to the garment directly under the arms, substantially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 16th day of June, 1881.

R. O. SIBLE Y.

Witnesses H. A. SPERRY, E. H. EDDISON. 

